Chris Rea, the English singer songwriter, guitarist and one of the most distinctive voices in European rock and blues, has died aged 74. Rea passed away in hospital on 22 December 2025 after a short illness, closing the book on a career that spanned more than five decades and sold over 40 million records worldwide.
A statement at Chris’s socials reads “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Chris, who died peacefully earlier today following a short illness.
Chris’s music has created the soundtrack to many lives, and his legacy will live on through the songs he leaves behind.”
Born Christopher Anton Rea in Middlesbrough on 4 March 1951, Rea became one of Britain’s most enduring musicians, even if his success arrived in an unconventional order. Long before he fully connected with UK audiences, he had already built a formidable reputation across Europe, driven by relentless touring, an unmistakable gravel edged voice and a slide guitar style that drew deeply from American blues traditions.
Rea’s music career began later than many of his peers. Raised in a large working class Roman Catholic family, he originally dreamed of becoming a journalist or film composer. Music did not take hold until his early twenties, when he bought a second hand Höfner guitar and began teaching himself to play bottleneck slide. Influenced by Charlie Patton, Blind Willie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and later Ry Cooder, Rea developed a sound that was more atmospheric and emotionally grounded than fashionable.
His breakthrough came in 1978 with his debut album Whatever Happened To Benny Santini? and the single Fool (If You Think It’s Over). The song became a major hit in the United States, reaching No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Adult Contemporary chart, earning Rea a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Ironically, the song’s piano led arrangement obscured his identity as a guitarist and shaped early marketing misconceptions that followed him for years.
The early 1980s were commercially uneven, but Rea’s fortunes changed decisively with Water Sign in 1983. Recorded largely from demo tapes, the album connected strongly across Ireland and continental Europe, particularly Germany, where audiences responded to substance over image. This period laid the groundwork for a remarkable run of albums including Shamrock Diaries, On The Beach and Dancing With Strangers, each steadily expanding his profile.
By the late 1980s, Rea finally broke through at home. The Road To Hell in 1989 became his first UK No. 1 album and remains one of the defining records of its era. Its follow up Auberge repeated the achievement in 1991, cementing Rea as a major British artist. Songs such as The Road To Hell (Part 2), Texas, Auberge and the evergreen Driving Home For Christmas embedded themselves into popular culture, the latter eventually becoming one of the UK’s most enduring seasonal songs.
Despite his global success, Rea consistently resisted the trappings of celebrity. He never toured the United States extensively, prioritising family life over industry expectations. That independence became even more pronounced following a series of severe health challenges. After surviving major surgery and long term illness, Rea shifted away from mainstream rock and returned to his blues roots, founding his own label Jazzee Blue.
That chapter produced some of his most ambitious work, including Dancing Down The Stony Road and the monumental Blue Guitars box set, an 11 CD exploration of blues history accompanied by Rea’s own artwork. It was a creative statement made entirely on his own terms.
Beyond music, Rea pursued film, painting and motor racing, writing and starring in the film La Passione and composing soundtracks that reflected his lifelong love of cars and speed. Throughout it all, Middlesbrough remained central to his identity, informing lyrics that reflected industrial decline, memory and loss.
Chris Rea leaves behind his wife Joan, their two daughters, and a catalogue defined by integrity, resilience and emotional honesty. He was never interested in being a rock star, but he became something rarer, an artist whose work aged with his audience and remained rooted in lived experience.
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